RUSH: If I may — and I can because it’s who I am and it’s my program — if I may be serious for just a brief moment. For those of you who are relatively young in the audience, you may find it hard to believe this, but there was a day not that long ago where — I don’t care what party he came from — no president would join this collection of people, for whatever occasion going on in South Africa. There was a day where the United States and its president would not deign to associate with the likes of some of the people on that stage.

Brian Williams is right. They would find another way. But the president of the United States would not participate in any action or ceremony which caused the United States to shrink in self-respect, importance, size, what have you. Not long ago, that would have been the case. It’s a different world now. It’s a changed world. We live in a world where the United States is largely guilty and responsible for all of the criminals and thieves and thugs in the world, and we live in an era where the United States is due for a bunch of come-downs because we’ve been unfairly and illegally and immorally making ourselves a superpower all of these years.

So now it’s proper that we be seated with personages of less than high repute, because we are responsible for them. That’s the prevailing opinion of the left. Anything that causes the United States to shine less bright, and anything that causes the United States to diminish in capacity and respect is fine with them. And this clearly does that. It’s not the handshake. It’s the overall behavior. It’s the posing for selfies, taking selfies. I mean, Christiane Amanpour calls this a warm-up act for Obama, but the fact is that’s exactly how he sees this event.

If you go back and look at Obama’s two books, he barely mentions Nelson Mandela, barely mentions apartheid. They didn’t matter to him in his two autobiographies. This is simply the latest episode to be marketed, to be used. And that’s what’s happening. And in the process of this, it’s not the handshake with Raul Castro. It’s the deigning to appear to be no different than these people, no different than the thugs and the thieves and the criminals that are among the dignitaries at this event. It’s the willingness to make the United States appear no different. And I’m just telling you, those of you who are relatively young, there was a day not too long ago where another way would have been found for the president of the United States to attend these — I don’t know what you want to call, festivities, ceremonies, memorials, what have you.

I think this just illustrates the great plunge that our country is in the midst of. We are being led off the cliff. We’re not so much falling off of it, although we have enough people in this country willing to go over the side on their own by voting for Democrats and so forth. But for the most part we’re being led over the cliff. And this is actually a very sad sight to see. However, being who I am, I could not help but see the abject humor in this, with the absolute, I mean, I’ve never seen such slavish — what’s the word? I mean, it’s kiss ass. I’ve never seen this kind of — the media, they can’t help themselves. This is too big, because what this represents is the opportunity for Obama to take over for Mandela, who was the world in these people’s minds.

So this is Obama’s final step now, official final step onto the world stage. It’s an Obama victory on the world stage. This represents another giant step in the transformation of the United States away from the way it was founded and make it more or less like and no different than any other country on the planet, because we’re not special. We don’t have any business being better or different than anybody else, and it’s about time we had ourselves chopped down to size. It’s about time we got our comeuppance and we have a president willing to oversee this.

Now, some might be saying, “What the hell is Raul Castro doing there in the first place? How do communist thugs, criminals, thieves, dictators end up there?”

Well, an honest answer to the question may be something that is impolitic to say at this time. So let me just remind you that Nelson Mandela loved Fidel Castro. He loved Cuba. In fact, I will read to you a quote from Mandela. “Long live the Cuban revolution,” he said, “long live comrade Fidel Castro. Cuban internationalists have done so much for African independence, African freedom, African justice. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of a vicious imperialist campaign designed to destroy the advances of the Cuban revolution. We, too, want to control our destiny. There can be no surrender. It is a case of freedom or death. The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people.” Mandela said that back in 1991. That was on the 38th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution, Friday, July 26th, 1991.

People forget this, but do you remember the Cubans sent soldiers to Angola back in the nineties. The nineties was a tumultuous decade for all of sub-Saharan Africa. It wasn’t for Meryl Streep. She did a movie, Out of Africa, she had the African accent down pat pretty good, but for everybody else it was a tumultuous decade. Now, if you’re gonna sign on to the Cuban revolution, what else are you signing on to? When Mandela speaks here of the “Cuban internationalists who have done so much for African independence and freedom and justice, and we admire the sacrifices of Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of a vicious imperialist campaign designed to destroy the revolution,” he can only be talking about the United States of America there.

In fact, I do not have the quote right in front of me, but about the time Mandela was uttering these platitudes for Cuba, he at the same time was highly critical of this country. If I can paraphrase, he attacked human rights in this country and impugned the United States as having made no gains and done nothing important in the area of human rights. That’s why all of this that’s taking place for those of us who remember different days and different leadership, different caliber of leaders, this is kind of pathetic actually to watch this. All we can do is just have fun with it that the media is offering, ’cause they’re turning this into a joke.

I mean, to call something the warm-up act for Obama. Stop and think of the disrespect all the way around, is that statement, stated with the unbridled, uncontainable excitement by an anchorette infobabe from CNN, Christiane Amanpour. Oh, it couldn’t been better, it’s a great warm-up act for Obama. The whole thing is about Obama, which is, I don’t care what anybody says, a gigantic disrespect to Nelson Mandela. Again, Mandela’s name is mentioned twice in Dreams From My Father and apartheid once or twice. It was never, Mandela nor apartheid, were not a big deal to Obama. It was way over there.

His grievances were all American. His anger, his rage was all aimed at America. Obama’s not down for the civil rights struggle, and he certainly wasn’t down for the apartheid struggle, but he’s clearly gonna take advantage of it and insert himself in such a way as to make it look like he is single-handedly responsible for apartheid going by the wayside.

Here’s a Nelson Mandela quote on the United States. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.” Nelson Mandela, who is being honored this week with a week-long memorial service. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.”

Want to hear more? “People of Asia and Africa have seen through the slanderous campaign conducted by the USA against the socialist countries. They know that their independence is threatened not by any of the countries in the socialist camp, but by the USA, who has surrounded their continent with military bases. The communist bogey is an American stunt to distract the attention of the people of Africa from the real issue facing them, namely American imperialism.” And so Nelson Mandela was no different than anybody else on the left anywhere in the world. America was imperialist, and it was imposing itself, and it was opposing communism as a stunt.

Nelson Mandela came from the African National Congress, which was communist and Soviet sponsored, and Reagan and a number of American leaders in the eighties said so, and that was unforgivable, and it was in that context that Mandela was speaking. Communist bogey. An American stunt to distract the attention of the people of Africa. So Mandela was saying, “Look, the people of America, American leadership is trying to tell us to beware of the communists taking over our country. But it’s not the communists that are the problem, it’s America that is the problem.” And then he goes and hails the Castro brothers. Here’s more Mandela on Cuba: “There’s one place where Fidel Castro’s Cuba stands out head and shoulders above the rest, and that is in its love for human rights and liberty.” What are we to do with this? This week we have to let it go. That’s it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Mr. Snerdley just said something very interesting to me. He said that he’s been spending time since Mandela died giving people a five-minute short version history of Africa, the continent of Africa. One of the things that stands out, not just about Africa, if I can expand upon something he said. He said you look at the British and their colonialism. In Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe, he said that colonialism was a distasteful thing, but the sad reality is that every place that the British colonized was better off under colonialism than they are today after it, after the British were kicked out.

Rhodesia is an example. India some might even say. Conrad Black, whose latest book, Flight of the Eagle, I recommended strenuously on this program, wrote a piece in National Review Online on this very phenomenon. That while British colonialism has its detractors and it’s not something that you want to promote — Obama hated it, for example, still does, the fact remains that in every country where the British colonized, there are some exceptions, but not many, these countries are far worse off today than they were under British rule. And Rhodesia is one example.

Rhodesia was a jewel, it was a crown jewel of southern Africa. Today it’s led by a communist, Robert Mugabe, and the place is practically dead. So then the question — I get this a lot, by the way, when I start telling people about my definition of American exceptionalism. Particularly young people will ask, “Well, why hasn’t what happened in America happened anywhere else in the world?” And you know it’s really a great question. It’s a great question when you understand that young people today are not taught that what happened in America was anything special. They’re taught just the opposite.

They’re taught today that America’s founding was nothing spectacular. It might even be immoral. It might even be unjust, slavery and discrimination against women and all these things that kids today are taught about the founding of the country. So they don’t think it’s anything special. At least they’re not taught that. But then when you do take the time to explain what American exceptionalism is and try to explain the uniqueness and the greatness of this country, then the question invariably is asked, “Well, why hasn’t it happened anywhere else?”

Why, for example, during Pol Pot’s reign in Cambodia didn’t somebody rise up and say, “Enough of this,” and establish freedom and a growing economy for the people that live there? Why didn’t it happen in Vietnam? Why hasn’t it happened in China? Why doesn’t it happen in any number of places? Why hasn’t it happened anywhere but here? And it’s such a great question, because it hasn’t happened anywhere else but here. There never has been a country like this.

That’s the point.

There never has been a country founded in goodness — blessed by God, I happen to believe — that became a force for good the world over. It became a superpower within its own borders, and furthermore, stood for and defended liberty and freedom everywhere else in the world. Wherever disasters, the United States is the first country there, to help clean up, pick up, restore. World War II, Marshall Plan, United States. The United States has built the world, fed the world, clothed the world. How? But more important, why hasn’t it happened anywhere else? And there really is an answer to it, and it’s not that complicated. It may be hard to believe.

But for young people, the answer is, well, there just hasn’t been a George Washington in Cambodia yet, and there hasn’t been a Thomas Jefferson in Zimbabwe, and there hasn’t been a Benjamin Franklin in Burma, and there hasn’t been a James Madison in Colombia. They were special people. They were special people alive for the most part at the same time. You talk about a confluence of events and people alive in the same place at the same moment in history, that is the simplest way to explain, particularly to young people, what is really special about this country.

The Founding Fathers are not just some people that happened to get mad a long time ago and want their freedom. They were special people in addition to what their natural yearnings were. There hasn’t been anybody else write a Constitution like Madison. There just hasn’t been, because that person hasn’t existed anywhere but here. Now, the person may exist, but for whatever reason hasn’t surfaced or been able to achieve. But regardless, for all practical purposes, there isn’t another James Madison anywhere or George Washington or John Adams, take your pick of any of the founders. They were here. It’s what’s so special about our founding and what is so special about our Constitution, and it is why so many Americans are beside themselves over what is happening now.

I said earlier in the program that there was a day in the not recent past of this country where whoever the president was would not deign to share a stage with the collection of human debris that’s over in South Africa today. As Brian Williams said, you’ve got criminals, you’ve got thieves, you’ve got all kinds of reprobates. You got the Star Wars bar scene over there. And not that long ago, the American president would have found a way to stand alone, or with allies at a memorial such as this for Mandela, but would not have shared the stage and would not have legitimized those others.

The handshake for Raul Castro, again, I’m telling you, the truth of that is, if you want to be offended by it, don’t be. Obama would have bowed if he knew who Castro was. You gotta understand Obama’s mind-set when he arrives at this thing. He’s taking selfies. He’s thinking to himself, “What must these people think, to be in my presence?” He’s not running on that stage, “Oh, there’s Raul Castro. I think I’ll go shake his hand and I’ll really irritate some people,” or, “There’s Raul Castro. I really admire him.” He doesn’t think that way. He is on stage and it’s all about him, and what happened was that Raul Castro shook his hand, not the other way around.

It’s like Christiane Amanpour said in describing this scene. The memorial for Nelson Mandela is the opening act for Barack Obama. Opening act for what? Not just the speech that he made. He’s gonna be there a few days. The opening act for Obama to assume stately control over the world, is what the opening act means. And people like Christiane Amanpour love this because she thinks it’s a thumb in our eye. And I tell you, the American left is as motivated and inspired to offend and irritate and defeat us as they are by anything else. So seeing Obama universally loved and adored and accepted around the world, they just eat that up. And it will touch, flavor, and influence their reporting.

So she’ll call it the opening act for Obama, knowing full well, A, she really believes it, but she also is very much aware it’s gonna offend people back here, and that’s cool, too. That’s like icing on the cake. But I digress. There was a day not long ago where this today would not have happened. An American president would not deign to legitimize some of the bad actors that were among the so-called dignitaries at this memorial. But we live in a different era now where the left celebrates this country being chopped down to size. The left celebrates this country being criticized and thought of as nothing special and, in fact, thought of as to blame for a lot of the world’s problems. I mean, the president has apologized for our country numerous times. He clearly is of the mind-set that the US is guilty of things, far more than it is deserving of praise for things.

This Mugabe guy is such a bad actor, not even Mandela wanted anything to do with him. In fact, I remember this like it was yesterday. Even among those who were offering Mandela a chance to get out of prison if he would simply renounce terrorism, some were deathly afraid of it ’cause they were afraid that he would embrace Mugabe and Mugabe had embraced the communists and was in the process of just tearing Rhodesia apart. He was basically nationalizing property, taking private property away from farmers, nationalizing it, putting it in control of people who had no idea how to run it, just took that country to hell. And there was fear that Mandela would embrace somebody like Mugabe.

It turned out that Mandela wanted nothing to do with Mugabe. He was smart enough to know that he wanted nothing to do with him, by any means. He didn’t want to be seen with him, didn’t want to be seen as a supporter of Mugabe’s. But it’s a shame because the people of the world, like I say, most people are born to tyranny, born to poverty, and it would have been our fate as well had it not been for the confluence of events and people. It really was a miracle, the founding of this country, particularly measured against world history. It was a genuine miracle.

In fact, there was a book written about the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. The title of the book was Miracle at Philadelphia, by Catherine Drinker Bowen. The whole country’s a miracle. It’s special. It’s exceptionalism. It’s exceptionalism because it’s such a difference from what most of the people since the beginning of human history have known. The idea of improving one’s standard of living? Most people, even today, in the history of the world, have been preoccupied with one thing, and that’s staying alive that day, which means finding food and warding off predators and attackers and what have you. The idea of improving your standard of living, that’s a luxury that nobody contemplated. That didn’t become something that became expected until the United States of America.

That’s why, folks, it is really painful for me to see this country so denigrated by people who don’t appreciate our history and don’t want to appreciate it and for some silly ideological reasons, disagree with it. I don’t know how else to describe it other than a shame. And that may be a little naive because the people who are actively engaged trying to transform this country and destroy it are really mean, they’re really evil, their designs are evil. Not just misguided. They know what they’re doing. Miracle at Philadelphia, the story of the constitutional convention, Catherine Drinker Bowen.